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annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
4.0
And once more I downloaded a free book without even checking what it was about and if it would be something for me. Based on my previous experiences with Roberts, I was quite certain that I would end up reading and liking this book. However, the deadline for my review was coming closer and closer and yesterday I knew I had to get started. And, since I already read a few of her other books I was already prepared that there would be a lot of information at first without many explanations.
And I have to admit that it's a good thing I was prepared for that. There really is a lot of mythology and info in the first part of the book. And there were actually no explanations. In a way that makes a book harder to read. It's not easy. On the other hand, that's also part of the fun. It's a nice challenge and I like figuring things out on my own or along with the characters who are thrown into the midst of everything without understanding it.
In this case it was a huge challenge. There was a huge cast of amazing characters, there was a lot of weird stuff going on and there was a nice historical city with a lot of history and politics. However, the further I got and the more I started to understand, the more I could appreciate all of this. I'm not a visual reader, but even I got flashes of images and had clear ideas on how certain locations looked and felt. Everything was so well thought out, so detailed. It really felt like I was walking around in the city, like I became part of the city.
And although there are a lot of characters in this book, we get to see how layered, complicated and interesting they are. Every character has their own story, history and interests. Everyone also has their own motives. Some characters we get to know a little better, because we're spending some time in their heads, reading what they think and feel. Some characters stay more of a mystery, hiding their goals and personal gains a little better.
All those elements combined result in a very interesting, complicated, vidid and layered story. And even though it's quite a heavy read, there are a lot of questions still unanswered. I'm not sure when I'll pick up the next installment, but I will pick it up at some point.
And I have to admit that it's a good thing I was prepared for that. There really is a lot of mythology and info in the first part of the book. And there were actually no explanations. In a way that makes a book harder to read. It's not easy. On the other hand, that's also part of the fun. It's a nice challenge and I like figuring things out on my own or along with the characters who are thrown into the midst of everything without understanding it.
In this case it was a huge challenge. There was a huge cast of amazing characters, there was a lot of weird stuff going on and there was a nice historical city with a lot of history and politics. However, the further I got and the more I started to understand, the more I could appreciate all of this. I'm not a visual reader, but even I got flashes of images and had clear ideas on how certain locations looked and felt. Everything was so well thought out, so detailed. It really felt like I was walking around in the city, like I became part of the city.
And although there are a lot of characters in this book, we get to see how layered, complicated and interesting they are. Every character has their own story, history and interests. Everyone also has their own motives. Some characters we get to know a little better, because we're spending some time in their heads, reading what they think and feel. Some characters stay more of a mystery, hiding their goals and personal gains a little better.
All those elements combined result in a very interesting, complicated, vidid and layered story. And even though it's quite a heavy read, there are a lot of questions still unanswered. I'm not sure when I'll pick up the next installment, but I will pick it up at some point.
siavahda's review
5.0
I want to review this book so badly, because it is one of the best books I've ever read and not enough people know about it. But I genuinely don't think I have the words to describe how beautiful, original, clever and ground-breaking it actually is.
Yes, I said ground-breaking. Can you name many other fantasy novels where homo- and bisexuality is not even a Thing? The Creature Court trilogy doesn't 'deal' with being gay; this isn't an issues book. Most of the characters are gay or bi, and that's that.
But that's really just a fraction of Power and Majesty's awesomeness. The best part of this trilogy is how it constantly goes against expectations. I read almost nothing but fantasy, so I can promise that most books ultimately follow the same pattern with the same kinds of twists. If characters fall in love, they will stay in love. Big dramatic sacrifices always successfully save the day. Nobody REALLY important dies. Last minute ideas and plans always work. Idealism is always rewarded.
Except they aren't and don't, here. For all that this is an amazingly unique fantasy, it's incredibly real - both in characterisation and in plot. The twists are truly twisty, and almost nothing goes as expected.
Then there's the worldbuilding, which is so stunningly gorgeous heavenly choirs should start singing every time I crack this book open. Without ever info-dumping the reader Roberts gets across an incredibly detailed, beautiful world - and not just in the magical, idealistic department either. There are nitty gritty details, like festivals and music and drugs and slang, all of which help to turn the city of Aufleur into a place you feel you could walk right into.
Urgh, I'm failing totally at getting across how amazing this book is! Put it this way: it's unputdownable, it's beautifully written, and it's original in a genre where everything seems to have been done a million times. It's intense and sensual and exciting. You don't just read it; you get sucked in and you live the story.
Please, please, PLEASE pick it up. You won't regret it for a second!
Yes, I said ground-breaking. Can you name many other fantasy novels where homo- and bisexuality is not even a Thing? The Creature Court trilogy doesn't 'deal' with being gay; this isn't an issues book. Most of the characters are gay or bi, and that's that.
But that's really just a fraction of Power and Majesty's awesomeness. The best part of this trilogy is how it constantly goes against expectations. I read almost nothing but fantasy, so I can promise that most books ultimately follow the same pattern with the same kinds of twists. If characters fall in love, they will stay in love. Big dramatic sacrifices always successfully save the day. Nobody REALLY important dies. Last minute ideas and plans always work. Idealism is always rewarded.
Except they aren't and don't, here. For all that this is an amazingly unique fantasy, it's incredibly real - both in characterisation and in plot. The twists are truly twisty, and almost nothing goes as expected.
Then there's the worldbuilding, which is so stunningly gorgeous heavenly choirs should start singing every time I crack this book open. Without ever info-dumping the reader Roberts gets across an incredibly detailed, beautiful world - and not just in the magical, idealistic department either. There are nitty gritty details, like festivals and music and drugs and slang, all of which help to turn the city of Aufleur into a place you feel you could walk right into.
Urgh, I'm failing totally at getting across how amazing this book is! Put it this way: it's unputdownable, it's beautifully written, and it's original in a genre where everything seems to have been done a million times. It's intense and sensual and exciting. You don't just read it; you get sucked in and you live the story.
Please, please, PLEASE pick it up. You won't regret it for a second!
nickystrickland's review
5.0
This was one of those books I have waited patiently for at the library. I was curious to see what the story was about and how it unfurled. It ended up being one of those books that I couldn't leave alone, creating resentment at mundane life activities intruding. The characters, world building and set up of the Creature Court built and developed throughout the pages. One thing that I noticed was the use of the Ancient Roman world as a basis for the world (the calendar, naming of the days, use of traditions, geography and naming customs to list a few) however it was not too much of a distraction (which I had feared it may when I commenced reading). Look forward to seeing what happens next in book 2.
kentcryptid's review against another edition
3.0
Power and Majesty manages to be entertaining despite vague world-building and elements of dubious gender politics.
To start with a pet peeve: fantasy stories which use a map of Earth (usually Europe, see the map at the start of Power and Majesty) and then just call places different things feel massively dated these days. The map shows the story taking place in Italy, and the characters celebrate festivals like Lupercalia, so you’d think this was meant to be a fantasy AU where Ancient Roman customs persisted a lot longer than they did in the real world. But then the main city has a French name! None of the jazz-age setting with Dukes and Duchesses, flappers, and trains but not much other technology felt like it really added up.
On the plus side: the story (a dressmaker discovers she is the Chosen One and is pulled into a world of angel/demon/shifter things which exists alongside the daylight world) trots along nicely. The denizens of the Creature Court are interestingly amoral and there was the core of an interesting back-story in the battle between Ashiol, the new Creature King, and his former lover/friend/tormentor, Garnet. The dialogue is a bit inconsistent (the author hasn’t really decided on a consistent idiolect for her world) but there are nice flashes of humour throughout which liven up the narration.
On the disappointing side: the attitude towards sex and sexuality in this book is kind of a mess. One character is raped off-screen early on for what feels like no very good reason. The main female character is presented as more morally pure than her friend Delphine who likes to drink alcohol and (shock, horror) have sex with men. There’s some really gross slut-shaming of Delphine from a POV character who the reader is meant to entirely sympathise with. The highly sexualised descriptions of the only female Creature Lord also weirded me out.
I’m intrigued enough by the story that I will probably read the next one, but I don’t have massively high expectations.
To start with a pet peeve: fantasy stories which use a map of Earth (usually Europe, see the map at the start of Power and Majesty) and then just call places different things feel massively dated these days. The map shows the story taking place in Italy, and the characters celebrate festivals like Lupercalia, so you’d think this was meant to be a fantasy AU where Ancient Roman customs persisted a lot longer than they did in the real world. But then the main city has a French name! None of the jazz-age setting with Dukes and Duchesses, flappers, and trains but not much other technology felt like it really added up.
On the plus side: the story (a dressmaker discovers she is the Chosen One and is pulled into a world of angel/demon/shifter things which exists alongside the daylight world) trots along nicely. The denizens of the Creature Court are interestingly amoral and there was the core of an interesting back-story in the battle between Ashiol, the new Creature King, and his former lover/friend/tormentor, Garnet. The dialogue is a bit inconsistent (the author hasn’t really decided on a consistent idiolect for her world) but there are nice flashes of humour throughout which liven up the narration.
On the disappointing side: the attitude towards sex and sexuality in this book is kind of a mess. One character is raped off-screen early on for what feels like no very good reason. The main female character is presented as more morally pure than her friend Delphine who likes to drink alcohol and (shock, horror) have sex with men. There’s some really gross slut-shaming of Delphine from a POV character who the reader is meant to entirely sympathise with. The highly sexualised descriptions of the only female Creature Lord also weirded me out.
I’m intrigued enough by the story that I will probably read the next one, but I don’t have massively high expectations.
nelsonseye's review
5.0
I did end up staying up late to finish this one. I don't remember why I put it on my to-read shelf, but I am very glad I did. I am also glad that the rest of the series is already published so I can snatch it up.
wordnerdy's review
3.0
https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-book-170.html
I no longer remember why I backed this author's Kickstarter that gave me the Creature Court trilogy (of which this is the first) and a new novella in the series. Anyway, it's nice to have a big hunk of a story to read, though this does lean into the dark fantasy stuff (lots of violence, erotic blood-sucking, chaos and mayhem, etc. A content warning for rape and associated trauma, not to mention abuse and torture, seems appropriate here too). In this world, cities are protected by magical people who can transform into animals, and they're all decadent hedonists with weird power struggles. A young seamstress had this power but it was stolen from her; now, years later, the thief has died and her powers have been restored, and she (and her friends) are thrust into this shadowy world. I liked the human characters in this a lot; the magical people were mildly annoying in that melodramatic way. If this was slightly less grim, I’d love it, but instead I just liked it a lot and am looking forward to the next one. B+.
I no longer remember why I backed this author's Kickstarter that gave me the Creature Court trilogy (of which this is the first) and a new novella in the series. Anyway, it's nice to have a big hunk of a story to read, though this does lean into the dark fantasy stuff (lots of violence, erotic blood-sucking, chaos and mayhem, etc. A content warning for rape and associated trauma, not to mention abuse and torture, seems appropriate here too). In this world, cities are protected by magical people who can transform into animals, and they're all decadent hedonists with weird power struggles. A young seamstress had this power but it was stolen from her; now, years later, the thief has died and her powers have been restored, and she (and her friends) are thrust into this shadowy world. I liked the human characters in this a lot; the magical people were mildly annoying in that melodramatic way. If this was slightly less grim, I’d love it, but instead I just liked it a lot and am looking forward to the next one. B+.
slc333's review
4.0
While the world building and story are interesting it is the characters that make this book so compelling. I loved the heroine Velody and how suddenly having all this power thrust upon her didn't change her basic character. She is strong, likeable, decent and grounded. The cast of characters from the cerature court are infinitely less likeable but their tortured history and interactions make them so damn interesting it doesn't matter. Even though she only has a small role I also really like Ash's cousin the Duchess and would love to see her and Velody form some sort of alliance.
weirdfi's review
4.0
This book was one of those that I just stumbled across.
In fact I didn't like it at first either. I saw the cover and the blurb in a selection of books at a department store book area last year and neither grabbed my interest that much.
However it ended up in my purchases as it was a first in a series, it stayed unread for well over the end of the year potentially creeping into a full twelve months but I thought I better just read it. I took a little time to get into it, I thought the language would be too fantasy like for me but once I was a few chapters in the mysteries and powers in the book held my attention more than I had expected.
In the last half of the book I started having feelings for the characters and being a bit invested in their world. Which is always a good sign!
It has its dark moments both with violence, blood and sex so I wouldn't recommend teenagers to read it only adults. But I would recommend if looking for something a bit different to the usual lighter fare.
In fact I didn't like it at first either. I saw the cover and the blurb in a selection of books at a department store book area last year and neither grabbed my interest that much.
However it ended up in my purchases as it was a first in a series, it stayed unread for well over the end of the year potentially creeping into a full twelve months but I thought I better just read it. I took a little time to get into it, I thought the language would be too fantasy like for me but once I was a few chapters in the mysteries and powers in the book held my attention more than I had expected.
In the last half of the book I started having feelings for the characters and being a bit invested in their world. Which is always a good sign!
It has its dark moments both with violence, blood and sex so I wouldn't recommend teenagers to read it only adults. But I would recommend if looking for something a bit different to the usual lighter fare.